Knowledge creation and reliable decision-making in complex emergencies

This paper examines how the creation of knowledge and the location of decision-making authority within relief organisations influence coordination. Information was collected from the headquarters of international non-governmental organisations in 2003, as well as from Darfur and Khartoum, Sudan, in 2005 and 2007, respectively. Relief organisations rely on quality information dissemination between the field and headquarters. Yet, reporting from the field often is overloaded with misplaced precision, making it difficult for managers at headquarters to grasp the key issues. A high turnover rate among international field officers and a lack of inclusion of local staff and partners prevent the development of accumulated knowledge. Furthermore, most relief organisations have a centralised decision-making system. The creation of 'collective-meaning structures', based on reliable information on all decision-making levels, opens the way to the decentralisation of decision-making to field officers engaged with inter-organisational coordination structures. In sum, more efficient and reliable coordination between organisations relies on improved decision-making systems within each organisation.     

Reproductive health services for refugees by refugees: an example from Guinea

The need to involve refugees in their own reproductive health (RH) services has long been recognised, but there is a lack of published examples describing how this can be achieved collaboratively between refugee initiatives, UNHCR, bilateral development organisations and international relief agencies. This paper outlines the work, outputs and lessons learnt of the Reproductive Health Group (RHG), an organisation of Liberian and Sierra Leonean refugee midwives and laywomen providing RH services to fellow refugees in Guinea's Forest Region between 1996 and 2000. Working as part of the Guinean health system, RHG midwives and community facilitators helped make the RH services in their region the most effective in Guinea at the time. Looking at RHG's achievements, the challenges it faced and partly overcame, it is argued that refugee organisations can plan and implement RH services for refugees where UNHCR and its international partners ensure that they receive funding and technical assistance.     

From Sentiment to Science: Children's Relief Organisations and the Problem of Malnutrition in Inter-War Europe

The transformation of the ethos of children's relief organisations from sentimentalism into science was reflected in the rise of nutritional science, eugenics, child psychology and child guidance. A related transition occurred in the organisational forms of child welfare organisations: with the rise of welfare states, government organisations took an increasing role. Internationally there was a move to expand the scope of charities relieving children in distress to broader strategies promoting child welfare. In this paper I consider these shifts in the case of international measures to relieve child starvation and to promote child welfare between the First and Second World Wars. I examine how health organisations had to move away from relief work and establish programmes seeking to relate the developing scientific understanding of nutrition to a range of factors affecting health.     

The politics of NGO registration in international protectorates: the cases of Bosnia and Iraq

Following international interventions in Bosnia-Herzegovina(1) and Iraq, non-governmental organisations (NGOs) have played a central role in delivering humanitarian relief, encouraging participation in new systems of government, and advocating on behalf of marginalised groups. Although intervening agencies have framed such autonomous organisations as unquestionably virtuous, scholars have increasingly questioned the agency of NGOs, pointing to the constraining effects of funding and regulatory mechanisms. This paper contributes to this body of work by offering a detailed examination of legislation requiring NGOs to register with nascent state institutions. Drawing on case study material from Bosnia and Iraq, it argues that NGO registration should not be dismissed as a technical or legal matter, but that it should be embraced as a significant political practice embedded in relations of power. Registration legislation has increased the transparency of NGO funding origins and institutional practices, yet it has simultaneously acted as a barrier to smaller organisations and led to the transmission of international objectives through civil society entities.     

The growing role of web‐based geospatial technology in disaster response and support

This paper examines changes in disaster response and relief efforts and recent web‐based geospatial technological developments through an evaluation of the experiences of the Center for Geographic Analysis, Harvard University, of the Sichuan (2008) and Haiti (2010) earthquake responses. This paper outlines how conventional GIS (geographic information systems) disaster responses by governmental agencies and relief response organisations and the means for geospatial data‐sharing have been transformed into a more dynamic, more transparent, and decentralised form with a wide participation. It begins by reviewing briefly at historical changes in the employment of geospatial technologies in major devastating disasters, including the Sichuan and Haiti earthquakes (case studies for our geospatial portal project). It goes on to assess changes in the available dataset type and in geospatial disaster responders, as well as the impact of geospatial technological changes on disaster relief effort. Finally, the paper discusses lessons learned from recent responses and offers some thoughts for future development.     

Between international donors and local faith communities: Intermediaries in humanitarian assistance to Syrian refugees in Jordan and Lebanon

This paper explores the crucial part that faith‐based organisations (FBOs) play in acting as intermediaries between international donors and local faith communities (LFCs) implementing humanitarian relief projects for Syrian refugees. Humanitarian responses to the mounting Syrian refugee crisis have coincided with greater collaboration between international donors and LFCs. This cooperation often is facilitated by a complex web of non‐state intermediaries at the international, national, and local level. This study probes the breadth of roles of these intermediaries, drawing on primary data from case studies of two Christian intermediaries supporting Christian LFCs as they deliver aid primarily to Muslim Syrian refugees in Jordan and Lebanon. The results of the study are connected to the wider literature on LFCs in humanitarian response, revealing how intermediaries address issues of accountability, capacity‐building, impartiality, neutrality, and professionalism. The paper concludes by offering suggestions for further research on intermediaries as key actors in the localisation of humanitarian assistance.     

Success in Kashmir: a positive trend in civil–military integration during humanitarian assistance operations

The modern cast of disaster relief actors includes host nations, non-governmental organisations, private volunteer organisations, military organisations and others. Each group, civilian or military, has valuable skills and experiences critical to disaster relief work. The goal of this paper is to supplement the study of civil–military relief efforts with contemporary anecdotal experience. The paper examines the interaction between US military forces and other disaster relief actors during the 2005 Kashmir earthquake relief effort. The author uses direct observations made while working in Pakistan to contrast the relationships and activities from that effort with other accounts in prevailing scholarly disaster literature and military doctrine. Finally, this paper suggests that the Kashmir model of integration, coordination and transparency of intent creates a framework in which future humanitarian assistance operations could be successfully executed. Recommendations to improve civil–military interaction in future relief efforts will also be addressed.     

Malnutrition in emergencies: how can we do better and where do the responsibilities lie?

Over many years, the international relief system has been repeatedly criticised in terms of slowness of response, poor inter-agency co-ordination, and technical incompetence on a larger or smaller scale. Notwithstanding many initiatives to improve co-ordination and other aspects of international relief performance, relief failures, including epidemic malnutrition, continue to occur. The reasons for these failures are discussed from the perspective of the characteristics of the international system, and the way in which this would be expected to perform under different conditions. The chief limitations of the international system identified are: the lack of any focus for imposing co-ordination, other than governments of affected countries; the lack of any requirement for donor nations to ensure that adequate resources are supplied; and a tendency for the system to respond uncritically to the international media. A broad typology of international responses is proposed. It is suggested that relief failure can be recast in terms of the lack of any system which can ensure the correct allocation of food and other resources between emergencies, and ensure the systematic distribution of such resources as are supplied. It concludes that the scope for further improvement in the performance of the international relief system is now limited, but that the most promising area for investment would, where possible, support governments in affected countries to take greater control of the management of the international relief system.     

Malnutrition in Emergencies: How Can We Do Better and Where Do the Responsibilities Lie?

Over many years, the international relief system has been repeatedly criticised in terms of slowness of response, poor inter-agency co-ordination, and technical incompetence on a larger or smaller scale. Notwithstanding many initiatives to improve co-ordination and other aspects of international relief performance, relief failures, including epidemic malnutrition, continue to occur. The reasons for these failures are discussed from the perspective of the characteristics of the international system, and the way in which this would be expected to perform under different conditions. The chief limitations of the international system identified are: the lack of any focus for imposing co-ordination, other than governments of affected countries; the lack of any requirement for donor nations to ensure that adequate resources are supplied; and a tendency for the system to respond uncritically to the international media. A broad typology of international responses is proposed. It is suggested that relief failure can be recast in terms of the lack of any system which can ensure the correct allocation of food and other resources between emergencies, and ensure the systematic distribution of such resources as are supplied. It concludes that the scope for further improvement in the performance of the international relief system is now limited, but that the most promising area for investment would, where possible, support governments in affected countries to take greater control of the management of the international relief system.     

The internal brain drain: foreign aid,hiring practices,and international migration

Building on empirical material gathered in Haiti, this paper advances a new and innovative understanding of the internal brain drain phenomenon—the poaching of local skilled workers by international organisations (IOs) or international non-governmental organisations (INGOs)— by conceptualising it as an equilibrium. This equilibrium is composed of two sets of tensions: (i) those between the salary conditions in the public sector and those on offer to local personnel working for IOs and INGOs; and (ii) those inherent in the dual salary scale used by IOs and INGOs for local and international staff. These two sets of tensions contribute in their specific ways to international migration, and, as such, the internal brain drain has a bearing on external brain drain dynamics. In addition, the paper addresses the difficult policy choices facing development and humanitarian organisations, since every set of policies that impacts on one side of the equilibrium is bound to affect its other side.     

Restoring sanitation services after an earthquake: field experience in Bam, Iran

A powerful earthquake hit the city of Bam in southeast Iran on 26 December 2003. In its aftermath, a number of international relief agencies, including Oxfam, assisted in providing emergency sanitation services. Oxfam's programme consisted of constructing and repairing toilets and showers in villages located outside of the city. In contrast with other organisations, Oxfam opted for brick-work structures, using local materials and human resources rather than prefabricated cubicles. The choice illustrates the dilemmas faced by agencies involved in emergency sanitation: responding to needs in a manner consistent with international standards and offering assistance in a timely fashion while involving beneficiaries. Following a preliminary survey, Oxfam concluded that the provision of showers and latrines, in addition to utilisation of local materials and human resources, was essential for ensuring well-being, empowerment and dignity among members of the affected population, thereby maximising the benefits.     

Humanitarian War: A New Consensus?

The NATO bombing operation Allied Force against Yugoslavia in March-June 1999 represents the final disappearance of the narrowing divide between humanitarianism and politics: a war initiated and justified on humanitarian grounds. Although unlikely to be repeated any time soon, the Kosovo case appears to have cemented an ideological shift on the international right and even necessity of sing military force to protect civilians within sovereign states. Rather than humanitarians acknowledging the political context and consequences of their work, however, the case suggests the embrace of humanitarian principles of universality and neutrality by military organisations. This article discusses some consequences of the new consensus: neglect of the political context (both local and foreign) of such operations, interaction between the operational dynamics of relief operations and the logic of war and the political consequences of using the humanitarian legitimation and mission in such cases.     

The Protection of Civilians and ethics of humanitarian governance: beyond intervention and resilience

The principle of the Protection of Civilians (PoC) in armed conflict has ethical repercussions in various actions undertaken by states and international organisations, from humanitarian relief, development aid, and peacekeeping, to warfare and military intervention. While the ethics of humanitarian intervention are instructive in this regard, most PoC practices should be conceived rather as modes of humanitarian governance across borders—from interventionist to resilience‐oriented kinds. The consequences of this for the ethics of PoC are explored in this paper, highlighting questions of power, culture, and complicity. By relating these questions to the ethical strands of solidarist and pluralist internationalism, it positions the ethics of PoC within the broader field of the ethics of world politics. Examples are drawn from recent scholarly debate on PoC efforts in war‐torn countries such as South Sudan. This analysis of the ethics of PoC reconfigures central positions in the debate on humanitarian intervention to an era of global humanitarian governance.     

Partners under pressure: humanitarian action for the Syria crisis

Partnerships between organisations in humanitarian crisis situations generally are challenging, but at the apex are those established as part of remote management in a context of extreme insecurity. To date, little systematic research has been conducted on arrangements between local organisations that have access to crisis‐affected populations and international organisations that hold the purse strings. This paper presents the findings of nine months of qualitative research conducted with five Syrian local organisations and their international partners engaging in humanitarian action across the Turkey–Syria border, and presents insights into the components of successful partnerships. It redefines capacity along organisational and operational lines, and unpacks how monitoring and evaluation and donor requirements create tension and, at times, place local organisations at risk. The paper highlights the centrality of trust in successful partnerships, and describes the personalisation of the conflict by local organisations. Based on a historical case study of civil society in northern Iraq, it closes with some suggestions for long‐term sustainability.     

Local Institutional Development and Relief in Ethiopia: A Kire–based Seed Distribution Programme in North Wollo

Highlighted here is the important role played by community-based organisations in relief supply operations. In the context of an emergency seed supply project in northern Ethiopia in 1995, it examines the participation of burial societies, known as kires , in targeting, distribution and management. The paper illustrates that factors of local institutional legitimacy, transparency and accountability are central, both to the effective representation of community views and to long-term partnerships between local institutions and non-governmental organisations.     

Selling displaced people? A multi‐method study of the public communication strategies of international refugee organisations

The world has seen a major increase in forced displacement since 2011. As a growing number of states implement restrictive refugee policies, public communication has become essential for refugee organisations. This study analysed, therefore, three international refugee organisations’ discursive strategies towards the recent Syrian crisis, as well as their production and the social context. A critical discourse analysis of international press releases (N=122) and six semi‐structured interviews with press and regional officers revealed that the observed actors largely dehumanise displaced people and subordinate them to the ‘Western self’ and state interests; displaced people hardly ever acquire their own voice. The study found that the medium characteristics of press releases and the importance of media attention result in a depersonalising humanitarian discourse. In addition, there were indications of a post‐humanitarian discourse that reproduced the humanitarian sector's ‘marketisation’. Finally, the examined organisations use the political realist cross‐issue persuasion strategy, displaying displaced people as resettlement objects.     

Kinship,nomadism, and humanitarian aid among Somalis in Ethiopia

This paper draws on extended ethnographic and health policy research in eastern Ethiopia to reconsider kinship and nomadism among Somalis, as both of these cultural features transform in the contexts of recurrent humanitarian crises and episodic relief operations. The emergence and importance of new patterns of travel and migration among Somalis in Ethiopia reveal significant changes in the configurations and enactments of Somali kinship, on which many Somalis' mobility depends. Conversely, an analysis of Somalis' dynamic sub‐clan groupings and geographically dispersed kinship networks also highlights emergent patterns of mobility and migration that enable access to training opportunities and employment with relief organisations, as well as to distributions of humanitarian aid. Based on these findings, this paper argues that kinship and nomadism—both long central to Somalis' identities in Ethiopia—remain interdependent, coevolved, and key to their resilience and livelihoods in the face of recurrent crises and intermittent humanitarian responses.     

Making humanitarian relief networks more effective: operational coordination, trust and sense making

Effective coordination of humanitarian assistance activities remains elusive. This paper briefly addresses some of the reasons for what is widely perceived as a coordination dilemma in humanitarian affairs and argues for a new conceptualisation of the issue. Rather than continue to request that more authority be vested in a single organisation to secure coordination through top-down control, it contends that it may be timely to consider whether relief agencies involved in an emergency should be reconceived as social networks and efforts made to achieve changes in their organizational cultures that encourage operational coordination across institutional lines. Since such labours imply the need to trust, this article explores what forms of trust might be employed to promote improved coordination among relief institutions and how those relationships could themselves be conceptualised. Finally, while acknowledging that coordination is not costless, it suggests that its effective pursuit may be advantageous even in scenarios where aid organisations balk at cooperating to secure it.     

The strength of networks: the local NGO response to the tsunami in India

This paper examines the role played by a network of 12 local non-governmental organisations (NGOs)--the East Coast Development Forum (ECDF)-in the response to the Indian Ocean tsunami ('Asian tsunami') of 26 December 2004, which devastated the east coast of India. It examines how the ECDF sought to meet the needs of affected people through a direct relief programme, a rehabilitation programme focused on the restoration of livelihoods, and through advocacy to press for changes to government programmes to make them inclusive and to ensure that they satisfy the priority needs of the people most affected. The paper concludes that it was the trust and capacity built up through past network activities of the fisher, dalit, and tribal communities that enabled the ECDF to launch an effective response to the tsunami. A lesson to emerge is that the use of similar existing networks could be employed in other disaster responses around the world.     

Humanitarian action and military intervention: temptations and possibilities

Although the war in Liberia in July 2003 claimed hundreds of lives, the international community was reluctant to intervene. In this article, the author debates the question: does international military intervention equal protection of populations? The role of humanitarian organisations in military intervention is considered. Aid organisations cannot call for deployment of a protection force without renouncing their autonomy or appealing to references outside their own practices. Such organisations provide victims with vital assistance and contribute to ensuring that their fate becomes a stake in political debate by exposing the violence that engulfs them, without substituting their own voices for those of the victims. The political content of humanitarian action is also outlined and military intervention in the context of genocide is discussed. The author concludes that the latter is one of the rare situations in which humanitarian actors can consider calling for an armed intervention without renouncing their own logic.